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From the New York Post: Two Florida educators have been arrested after video of a teacher putting a student in a chokehold earlier this year surfaced — with a vice principal nabbed for allegedly trying to bury the disturbing incident.
Bennie Leverett, a teacher at Progress Village Middle School in Tampa, and school vice principal Tashiska Fabian were arrested in connection to the Jan. 18 melee, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
Leverett, 39, put the student in a chokehold, “restricting the student’s ability to breathe,” according to the sheriff’s office and the video.
Leverett allegedly held the student, who is 14, in the chokehold for around four minutes, even pulling the kid to the ground at one point while still grasping him, according to an arrest affidavit cited by the Tampa Bay Times.
The teacher reportedly forced students who had recorded the incident to delete the videos from the phones before leaving the classroom.
The principal, Tashiska Fabian, 41, later learned about the incident and met with Leverett and the student, but did not report it to the authorities. She also ordered another student who had recorded it to delete their video as well.
However, when police were made aware of the incident, they were able to retrieve the video from the student’s phone.
Below is a video of the incident, which has been blurred due to its graphic nature.
At one point, the teacher says, “He isn’t responding to me.” A student is then heard saying, “He can’t! He’s dying! You’re killing him!”
Bennie Leverett, 39, a teacher, & Tashiska Fabian, 41, VP, have been arrested in connection to a child abuse investigation at Progress Village Middle School.
Teacher is on video holding a child in a chokehold. VP didn’t report & instructed a student to delete footage of the… pic.twitter.com/vsXwEOYFui
— Orietta Rose 🇺🇲 (@0riettaRose) September 6, 2024
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